Why don’t people just tell you it’s Amway?

A common complaint (and I must say a somewhat legitmate one) that I encounter about Amway rep’s is that they’re often not “up front” about the identity of the company they work with. IBOs generally don’t call people and say something like “What are you doing Friday for lunch? I’d like to show you the Amway business”. Indeed, many IBOs are reportedly actively taught to avoid telling a prospect they own an Amway business. My personal feeling is that we all need to be proud of our affiliation with Amway and not try to hide it. If one truly looks at the facts about Amway and all the great things Amway is doing around the world, it’s difficult not to be proud to be working with this extraordinary company. Even so, there are some legitimate reasons why being 100% upfront all of the time may not be the best approach. Check out this video about The Mojave Experiment by Microsoft and you’ll see why.

47 thoughts on “Why don’t people just tell you it’s Amway?”

very simple answer… because people dont know what Amway is…at all! If they did, especially if they understood the company and its vision to offer business owners a low cost and high return business with american made products… they would participate or support it in some way

I have heard so many talk about Amway in a negative way. I do not see why. Amway has a great product line and they are the largest in Multi Level Marketing Company in the World. My Wife and I have seen the Marketing Plan several times and have used the products they are all top quality. Infact we have the cookware bought in 1985 and still looks like brand new. We also bought the ClearTrak Carpet Vacuum also bought in 1985 and still works like it did when we bought it. I saw the business end of it as a good one, but my Wife and I chose another type direct sales business. That Company was Watkins. Not that it was better just we had always used the spices and extracts and like the fact they have been doing business since 1868. I think people shouldn’t knock something unless they actually tried it out to see if it works.

Nice bridgett.Some people just can’t differentiate business and sales.Understand laws & rights before stating whatever you said about business.Esp if that business has impact on you.My upline keeps pushing my downline and me to buy stuff which i just find hilarious.Too brainwashed people just listens to talks and whatever else that comes from their “group” instead of reading black and whites which they need to learn by heart.I just retorted my upline today on rules of conduct.Bet most Ibo never read all of them either.And my upline is a silver producer.Lols.Guess most of them are hopeless.But it can earn you some money if you put in effort.Well,my upline did earn pretty some cash.the most is $4000.And she used 1 year.But she brought a lot of products for personal use too.

I stumbled on this blog while doing some other research. After reading a few of the responses I just had to chime in with a few thoughts.

1. Amway is a provider of products they are a wholesaler with a generous comp plan basically 2. IBO are private intities, kinda like mattress dealers

So, when you walk into any traditional business, rarely will any business owner share the source of there inventory. As a business owner my source is confidential. If a business owner decides to expand operations and need a partner they wouldn’t say the name of the source they would typically say “I am going to open another “Mattress warehouse” location in whereever” despite their source maybe temperpedic or what have you.

So, no as an IBO one doesn’t have to come out and say “Amway” because their particular business may not be indicitve of an Amway sourced business in Cali and its important not to confuse this business with someone else business.

Your analogy is all well and good if you are selling someone a mattress (or an energy drink, or some supplements, or a mascara).

Where your analogy is not all well and good is if you are looking to show someone the Amway Business.

Just like if that mattress company were looking to find another seller/promoter of their mattresses, it would seem kind of goofy, if they didn’t mention their name, and the entity that this potential seller/promotor would have a legal contract with, now wouldn’t it?

Nice thread. I am in India and its a mixed bag here … some people have seen some failures of their friends and avoid Amway and some have no clue so they want to know …. Lately the latter group is increasing as I do prospecting… and my uplines have taught me that when some says “Is this Amway ?” we are supposed to say “YES. THIS is Amway — don’t know what you have heard but this is it and I am into it – can show you some successful people doing it – so come to this meeting if you want to see them”. Looking back that’s how I was sponsored.

If someone asks a Jack in the Box franchise owner what he or she does they reply they own a Jack in the Box franchise.

When you ask an Oracle Siebel CRM salesperson what they do they tell you they sell Oracle Siebel CRM software.

It’s common business practice and common sense to tell people directly and transparently what you do so you can find those who want/need what you’re selling.

In the world of Amway often that isn’t done. Posturing under the pretext of wanting to create curiosity is done to avoid having to admit its MLM or Amway. The simple question of ‘What do you do?’ is danced around – not creating curiosity but triggering a feeling of deception. That leads to difficult conversations with prospects and high turnover in our industry.

My experience is the argument that you’ll lose prospects by telling them up-front you have a business and products powered by Amway Global doesn’t take into account the more than offsetting number of IBOs that will stay in business because they are no longer stressed about being deceptive.

As I said in the opening sentence, it’s a legitimate complaint! If you want to be in this business for the long-term then (a) you have to be proud of what you do and (b) you have to always consider the long-term effects of what you’re doing on overall reputation.

Well now I understand my co workers comment that he “invests in people”. It seems to me that the truly successful people in Amway don’t sell a whole lot of products themselves but rather “recruit” others to sell for them. Is it even possible to be successful by just selling products and not recruiting other people? My coworker said he is striving for “double ruby” status. Where is that on the spectrum of profitability?

I assume by “just selling products” you mean selling retail (to an end user), not selling wholesale to other IBOs? When you “recruit” someone, you’re effectively recruiting a wholesale customer (someone who purchases for resale). You can of course make money just focussing on retail, and many people do, but like in any business if you want to multiply the time and effort getting put into creating sales you’ll “recruit” other people. And just like any other business, “recruiting” other folk to look for sales cuts down on your margins, since they need to be paid their salary or commissions.

Retail stores will employ sales staff, even though it cuts down on the per-sale margin. Why? Because it’s hoped the increase in volume will make for greater profit through increased volumes and increased volume discounts from the supplier.

Same thing in Amway. We “recruit” people in the hope the increased sales volume will increase overall profitability. It takes time away that could potentially be spent on higher margin personal retail sales, but down the track it can end up creating sales (and profit) which you’ve put no direct time at all into.

To answer the last question, many of the skills are learned the same way you learn riding a bicycle – by getting on and falling off a lot. It hurts but doesn’t cost much more than pride. Others are taught free of charge by upline or Amway. Others are taught in books or on CDs or at seminars offered by a variety of authors and 3rd party companies. Not surprisingly, they’ll charge you for it.

David, Platinum is one of the first levels of success. The income varies from country but is usually roughly equivalent to an average full-time income, around $50,000 in the US. That’s not bad for a part-time business.

I’m afraid you misunderstood the 1 in 63 odds – that’s not for people who “do everything right”, far from it! That’s just the odds from sponsoring just one person. That’s not hard. Heck, I sponsored 5 in my first couple of weeks. A typical requalifying platinum has likely sponsored 20 or more people personally. As I mention further on in the article, doing enough to earn a bonus on that one person (which means you either have more legs or some customers) increases the odds to 1 in 35. That’s still doing very little!

What if you did what was recommended every month for the 1-2 years it’s suggested it takes to reach platinum? What are the odds then? I saw an informal survey done of participants at a seminar. Almost every person who had done what was recommended for at least the previous 6 months was at “silver producer” or above. Silver Producer means you’ve done one month of the six months necessary to be considered “platinum”. That suggests a success rate approaching 100% (!!) … if you learn and work hard for a period of months or years, as is recommended.

The main point is that very, very, very few people do much at all. They join, maybe dabble a little, and then go and do something else – much like the thousands that join the gym and never follow through.

I read your “Amway Success..” and found it very interesting. Now I don’t know what all the levels mean, so how much income does a “platnium” level IBO bring home. Is platnium the highest level? 1 in 63 odds for becoming platnium don’t sound that great, especially considering that those odds are for people who do everything right and follow the businness plan and training to a tee. As you said it is much lower for people who try to do it “their way”. Do you have a site that lists all the different levels and what that translates to as far as take home pay. It would help me understand a lot and may go a long way to clearing up some of my misconceptions. It appears to me that many skills that are needed are taught along the way…for a price. Am I wrong about this?

As far as the business model goes… I don’t doubt that some people do very well in Amway. For me it is not about the business model as it is the way people are recruited. If I go into business with someone I want to go in with someone with a personal proven track record!! I don’t want to hear that a friend of a friend of a friend is successful at Amway. If you are recruiting me I want to hear how YOU are successful!! Unfortunately I dont think that is how Amway is set up. It is after all multi level marketing. One last thing is that I feel that people who are successful at selling Amway are just GREAT salespeople. They would be successful if they were selling cars, real estate, or in this case Amway.

It depends how you define “recruit” I guess. When you join Amway you don’t just join your sponsor, you join a team. Your sponsor may be the one who introduced you to the concept, but generally it’s nearly always someone else who “recruits” you – ie helps you decide it’s worth joining. I can 100% guarantee you there’s someone in your friends team who is successful at Amway, and the way Amway is setup means that if you show you are serious, they will be the ones that help you, much more than your friend. Indeed you may quickly go on to be more successful than your friend.

With regard the traits of successful Amway folk, I partially agree. The thing to remember though is that very few of them had these skills when they started. The people skills, the organisational skills, the leadership skills required for success in virtually any field – all are taught and learned along the way.

My friend has been involved heavily with Amway for close to 10 years. He says he “invests” nearly 1K a month in the business. I dont know exactly what he means by that. I think nearly every product he uses is somehow connected with Amway. I see him at lunch and he is almost always drinking Amway water and eating Amway nutrition bars. He never takes a real vacation instead he attends seminars about Amway. I can’t imagine a person being more committed to Amway and to succeeding. I certainly dont see any signs of him succeding though

Ibo you are kind of right!! My hesitation is that he is “selling ” an opportunity that he himself has not been successful at. I could equate it to an overweight person selling some sort of diet plan. If the product is so good why is the person still overweight?? Do you understand what I mean? Now if my co-worker was quitting his job because he is/was so successful then I would be much more inclined to join. I guess because I could personally see the results rather than “possible results”. I am sure there are thousands of people who are successful with Amway, I just wonder what percentage of IBO’s fall into that category??

David, it takes several years of consistent work to generate a decent income in ANY business – Amway is no different. Has your friend invested several years of consistent work yet? I’d say the answer is likely “no”. Even if he has been a member for several years, he’s probably like most folk and not yet committed to that consistent work. But … he has met and or seen/heard many folk who have done it, and seen the results. So he believes it works, even if he doesn’t yet believe he can do it, or his belief in the results doesn’t yet overcome his fear of the work.

But tell me this – if your friend came to you with some other idea of starting a business, and wanted you to be a business partner with him – would you instantly reject him because he hasn’t yet developed the business to a profitable level? That’s silly. You’d check out the business plan, see if it makes sense, see if there’s any similar operations that have been successful and learned from their successes and failures, decide if your friend and any of his existing partners you’d be working with (ie upline) are the type of folk you’d like to be in business with, etc etc. Do the same thing! Does the business plan makes sense? Absolutely (you need to ignore the rantings of those who misunderstand it). Do you think you can get on with the other “partners”? Only you can decice that. Are there similar operations that have been successful? Absolutely – go and meet and talk to some of the folk who have succeeded, or listen to their talks and learn from their success and failures.

All of which should also lead you to learned the percentage of people who are successful with Amway – but first you need to define what you mean by that. If you just mean “people who ever joined”, then it’s very, very small. If you mean “people who joined and then followed the business plan and recommended strategy”, then it’s very high. You may want to read Amway Success – What are your odds for more discussion on that.

Or you can just base your decision on your friend, and wait and see how he does.

Well I am/was curious about how much money he is making every month because it appears that he works very hard at Amway. He seems to be very driven and dedicated to his business. If I am going to start up in this business I want to make money, but if the guy who is selling me on it isn’t making money….?? To be honest I see a guy who is pouring his heart and soul into his business and isn’t really seeing very much profit. Or at least he won’t say. It makes me very uncomfortable getting into this. I dont know if I could put in the hours this guy does. He is single and I am married with kids.

I read an article about answering “How much money are you making?”. It stated that the IBO can reply with “That’s a good question, why do you ask?” From there, one will be able to know that the person was probably asking because they want to see if you are earning, then they will considering joining in.

From there, the IBO can show that the IBO himself/herself isn’t the opportunity but the business is the opportunity. Sometimes, asking the person how much money they want to make may help too.

I have recently found this site and have found it very informative. I have a co-worker who is an Amway/Quixtar IBO. He has shared with me a little bit about the the business. It really bugs me though that he NEVER mentions Amway or Quixtar. He always calls it his “business organization” or his ” business mentorship”. I feel like he is trying to hide something. I come from a family of small business owners who are always willing to “talk business”. My co-worker seems to shy away from such conversations or talk in generalities. The way he talks about it kinda puts me off. He always says “you wouldn’t understand” or “it’s hard to explain”. I feel like I can’t get a straight answer for the most basic question like ” How much money are you making being an IBO?” Is this how most IBO’s are??

I believe this a great article and video. Amway Global is a great business today. The issue is leading with it based on past history does not always allow people to get an honest look at what we have today verse what we had in the past. So much has changed. The video is right on. People looking to build a business if you approach with Amway right off the bat might turn it down since of a misconceived opinion and old history. I know I would have based on family history and who did it in the past. The curiosity approach opened my mind to looking at it. Then with an open mind I saw how powerful it really was and all the great changes it has made over the last decade. I wish all people could see the great things that have happened. It is a lot like the video. Some people think that it is the same as it was. People who see what we have today and are shocked. It may take time to lead with Amway but I believe if all people run it as there business with there personality it still allows us to succeed with out all just being Amway run of the mills. That is clearly seen with all the LOA out there. Some are succeeding more than others and a lot is the approach. We are excited about the future.

Great Video, That is Awesome and so is Amway. World the fact is Amway and Amway Global have changed. Fact is vista had high expectation and when it first launched it needed major fixing. Well Over the years Amway has implimented major change as well. Todays Amway Global and today Vista might resemble that if it does not work propperly you need to upgrade. Well todays Amway is amazing. In the states people see it and are shocked to see all the great product lines and the major parnters connected with it such as Barnes and Noble and such. We are excided about Amway and Amway Global new image. The tools aspect has been fixed thru the accredidation process and the new income stream and new product pricing margins. Sure nothing is perfect and on top of a great job this adds so many great benefits that I can not get thru only my job. It really helps to diverisfy with stuff we need.

I think the point of the video, and IBOFB’s point in comparing Vista to Amway, is that people, without any first-hand knowledge nor experience, and with only what they heard, or what they read online, make conclusions that may or may not be accurate.

Here’s another example: I wanted to buy my husband a Bluetooth headset for his cell phone. As I went online to read reviews of a bunch of them, I got more and more confused, because reviews for a particular model would be vastly different–very pro and very con.

Finally, and thankfully, I got to one review which basically said, “Headset results would be different with different phones, so not everyone is going to have the same experience. You’re gonna have to try it out for yourself with your phone.”

I’m not saying that everyone should “try” the Amway Business. The point is that, depending on what someone’s situation in life is, and what they wish to accomplish, the Amway Business may be a great choice, a good choice, or a bad choice. But until one actually knows what the Amway Business is, and, very critical, know the people and their approach who would be helping them, how can one even start to answer that question?

I would agree that there are many people that will run away from the name Vista as well as the name Amway. Before even trying to look at the product.

I would agree that there are many great things about Vista as well as Amway, and many are using the products.

I would agree that there are many problems with Vista as well as Amway and many have stop using the products

The question is will showing someone the product regardless of the name used alter the product function.

The people in the video never used the product, but decline based on what other have said…and then were shown “mojave” as if was a new product..they were suprised at what was there, however the product itself was the same, with the same problems as before.

Mike, without wanting to get into an OS-war … I’ve been using Vista for several years. There are no real “problems” of any major sort. It’s a great OS. The “problems” were either myths in the first place, were fixed long ago, or are caused by people trying to use it inappropriately.

The thing is – everything duplicates. If an upline is showing a home plan or open plan, and they seem to want to “hide” Amway, then the new person will feel it needs to be hidden and is something to be ashamed of too. What kind of way is that to build a business? If you’re ashamed of Amway, get a clue, or go do something else. We don’t want you hanging around making any problems worse.

I realize that sometimes the company name is withheld when pre-qualifying a prospect and going for an appointment. What I have a problem with is when an IBO withholds the name of the company, even if a prospect asks outright, until the last few minutes of a presentation, then throws it in like an afterthought. That is what I feel is deceptive.

It’s time to use Ubuntu Linux instead of Vista. hehe, sorry, just being teasy.

Seriously, I had great results and sponsored some of my best leaders using the Direct Approach, which I learnt from Len Clements. How does it flow?

“Have you heard of Amway?” (Yes) “What do you think of it? Positive, negative, neutral?” (positive/neutral) “Great! What if there is a business where…”

(negative) “I see… tell me more?” (dig until the candidate has thoroughly purged out all his preconceived ideas) “Great! What if there is a business where…”

This Direct Approach gave me 100% Sign-Up rate everytime for years, as the people I meet are then prospects who are already positive or ready to listen.

HOWEVER, I have also used the Professional Approach as taught by my System extensively. It is there in the IBO Owners Manual.

And my preference?

Give me the Professional Approach anytime of the day!! Because now, the candidates who come to be reviewed include EVERYONE, even those who have negative impressions of the Business, and showing them the Plan gives them a LIVE chance to change their points of view – and indeed, many, many did. Amen.

It is also all about Posture.

If the whole organisation drives the business with the same approach, THEN you have duplication, and as I heard Orrin Woodward mention lately, “Discretion is the enemy of duplication.” And Jim Dornan said it succinctly too, “It is not about what works, but will it duplicate?”

While the Direct Approach makes it “easier” for new IBOs to get sign-ups, it demands that they know how to ASK questions of their candidates AND continue the conversation like a skilled conversationalist, while the System Approach empowers the new IBOs to say NO to meeting a prospect if the latter is not ready.

Your comment leads me to believe that there may be some misunderstanding regarding *WHEN* an IBO is to “reveal” that this is the Amway Business.

I don’t think anyone is saying that you never share with a potential IBO that it’s the Amway Business.

I don’t think anyone is saying that you don’t share with a potential IBO, at the time you show the Comp Plan, that it’s the Amway Business.

I think the “critics” are claiming that it’s deceptive not to mention that it’s the Amway Business right when you are “prospecting” them and “inviting” them to sit down (either in person or online)to get more information.

Good comparison. Amway’s not horrible, but it’s not for everyone. Just like Vista’s not for everyone. I personally disagree with the direction Microsoft is going with most of their products, so if I get something from them, I break it and hack it into what I want it to be. lol It’s so much fun! And yes I break my 3 versions of Linux every day too.

I tried doing it this way for years (my upline Diamond’s way), and I felt so uncomfortable and deceptive with it, that I decided that if that was the only way I could build the business, I wasn’t going to do it at all. I hate doing it that way. I believe that hiding the fact that it is Amway came from Yager. I decided that I was going to build a large retail business, and when I did show the plan, I was going to show demos right after the in depth, pre-qualifying questions. It gets the Amway name out in the open before I ever draw one circle. Several people have told me that they appreciated me doing it that way. After seeing the demos, not one prospect has ever stopped me from showing the plan. I think that is a pretty powerful point. We are now having good growth again. Be upfront and honest when showing the Amway plan. If you want to be dishonest and deceptive, go into politics. There are a lot of opportunities for that in Iowa.

Awesome video, this tells exactly why people behave the way they do about our business. It is just few negatives that has blown out of proportion.

Personally I don’t tell Amway upfront, but if they ask me if it is amway or what is the company name etc, I don’t hide it from them. Although telling the company name have given me negative results most of time (prospect become not interested), but I would rather tell them when required, then to talk them in seeing the presentation and later listening bad things about it, cursing me (may not be in front) for not being clear upfront. I did loose lot of Information packets (Initially, when we were told to not tell company name till you meet them to show the presentation) because of this approach, as people don’t say that they are not interested in person, but later they refuse to answer phone calls or meet.

Great video. And illustrates why, until you have the opportunity to show someone the whooooole picture, that saying “the Amway Business” does a diservice to all involved…

(by the way, I got Vista before I had time to hear all the negative. And when I did hear the negative, I saw it as uninformed opinions not based on facts, since my personal experience with Vista did not match what the critics were saying.)

I’m the same with Vista. I’ve been using it since the beta with no problems. On the other hand, I know why some folk have had problems with it thanks to one of our laptops. It was bought with Vista on it and is abysmal. I know now that some manufacturers pressured Microsoft to do a lessened criteria “Vista Capable” program alongside the “Designed for Vista” program. “Vista Capable” really means “it can run Vista, but it’s slow as a dog and is missing half the features!”

It’s kind of like Amway, where people’s opinions have been formed by exposure through folk that shouldn’t have been out promoting Amway in the first place, either because they had no training or were trained badly. Show it how it’s supposed to be run, and people give it 10 out of 10.

I’m from India & have personally sponsored few medical professionals who today are successful in the Amway business, and have their whole family involved as well. These people would not have given me the time of day- if i had asked them for an appointment to share about the Amway business…i don’t think its fair to not tell your prospects its Amway- but not fair either to deny them a better more holistic lifestyle wich they now achived through the business.

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